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I was just wondering today: does anyone have any interesting or wacky places you spray your minis?

Living in a flat I don't have the luxury of a basement, garage or garden where I can easily spray my figs. I was just about getting away with spraying them on the balcony but my pregnant girlfriend and her heightened sense of smell has put paid to that.

Now I'm in the routine of biking out to my local beach (lucky for me on the south coast of Sweden, I have a really quiet, beautiful beach about 5 mins from my flat) to get any spraying done. This has actually been really nice this summer as we've had really mild weather and it's actually resulted in me spending more time on the beach than I would've done otherwise :-)



So, any weird stories about how YOU spray your stuff? Or is it just me that's got a bonkers routine?

Nothing weird or unusual here, just my backyard. There are some perks to being a suburban homeowner.

Is that a little 'spray tent' I spy in the background? Nice.

It's absurd how jealous I get of people that have backyards. I think it's a mixture of two things: the convenience factor, and the privacy thing. I could go down to the shared garden space that we have, but then I'd be being overlooked by at least 50 apartments, which doesn't appeal to me a great deal.

I don’t use it as a tent most of the time, just something to raise the minis off the ground for a better angle. And try to keep the spray off the grass, which sometimes happens

When I was living in an apartment, I used brush on primer.

Don’t get too jealous of those of us with yards. While it does give me a private space to prime, it also gives me something to mow, rake, fertilize, de-grub, de-thatch, reseed, edge, and weed. There are times I’d love to be able to call the landlord and just have things fixed and taken care off.

I’d also love a beach within biking distance.

In my porch with the catflap open.

I airbrush indoors and I shouldn't, so I wear a respirator.

In the garden using spray cans mostly, as I can't be bothered to set up my airbrush and spray booth allot of the time.

I have some 30CM/12" lengths of 2by2 with slots cut into them to mount models for spraying. The slots are the right size for slotta tabs. I Bluetac based models on these as well. It's quite handy to be able to pick up a model on the wood so you can blast it from underneath without coating your fingers in primer (note: this doesn't always work! ).

This has resulted in some additional cost though as I have now ruined one garden table with spraying. The Mrs made me buy a new one for "best".

 notprop wrote:
In the garden using spray cans mostly, as I can't be bothered to set up my airbrush and spray booth allot of the time.

I have some 30CM/12" lengths of 2by2 with slots cut into them to mount models for spraying. The slots are the right size for slotta tabs. I Bluetac based models on these as well. It's quite handy to be able to pick up a model on the wood so you can blast it from underneath without coating your fingers in primer (note: this doesn't always work! ).

This has resulted in some additional cost though as I have now ruined one garden table with spraying. The Mrs made me buy a new one for "best".

At one point I used to spray on the deck, not the grass. That is no longer permitted by The Wife. You could barely see the overspray...

 Nevelon wrote:

Don’t get too jealous of those of us with yards. While it does give me a private space to prime, it also gives me something to mow, rake, fertilize, de-grub, de-thatch, reseed, edge, and weed. There are times I’d love to be able to call the landlord and just have things fixed and taken care off.

Ha ha! Well, I guess the grass isn't always greener, better trimmed, fertilised, de-grubbed, de-thatched, reseeded, edged & weeded on the other side.

A running theme seems to be emerging here, with regards to placating one's other half...

I actually tried spraying inside the flat once (it was the dead of winter; too cold to do it outside). I figured that a whole day to myself, with all the windows open to allow the room to air out afterwards, would be enough to escape the attention of the Mrs. And I was right. What I didn't count on was the residue from the paint settling at the base of the bookshelf and leaving an incriminating black smear.

Mercifully, after an afternoon's scrubbing (which would otherwise have been spent painting - d'oh!) I managed to get the worst of it off.

Nothing crazy, for me. I'm in a third floor walk-up apartment, so I just keep a fan behind me, open windows in front of me, and I use a box and a mask.

I sneak out to my condo's fire escape stairwell and spray there.

My yard. Between the shed and the fence behind (cuts the wind down).

I'm waiting until I can get my spraybooth back from my inlaws - and hooked up (complete with extractor fan).

In the garage, On a workbench of newspaper.

I spray in booth inside for the airbrush. I don't have space to leave this set up, so I also use rattle cans in the garden. I avoid overspray by holding the mini as I spray it. I avoid painting myself by using disposable gloves and covering my arm in a vambrace fashioned from a plastic bag. Yes, you are correct, this looks _fabulous_.

I prime in the corridor, where the stairs are, of my apartment block and the window is always open. I dont know if it's a good idea thou, but I don't want to go out where everybody can see me what I am doing (I'm really secretive about this 40K operation )

For a long while, it was very challenging for much of the year. Las Vegas, you see, is very hot, and often very windy. I discovered that I could spray in ambient temperatures into the 90s, BUT...not during the day. The addition of direct desert sun to the heat made for paint that dried before it hit the model, and a grainy appearance. So, after dark in the back yard was the way for a while...IF it wasn't windy. That got real frustrating sometimes.

Then, I came up with this:



So...what IS this thing in my garage?

Inside, it's this:



Made from some of these:



And some PVC drop cloths, resulting in an enclosed area so I don't get spray all over, don't have direct sunlight, etc. Like so:



Now, it's not ideal. My spray booth is in there, but I'm going to be making a second segment next to this one when I can get more clear space in the garage, largely because you get a LOT of dust in the color of whatever you're spraying all over the place. I dust it every time, but I'd still rather keep that much pigment dust away from my airbrushes and booth. And, of course, I use a respirator and safety glasses.

Wow shade1313, that's quite the setup Why not just invest in a $50 airbrush and be done with it?

Unless you're using it *tons*, you can just wear a respirator and forego most of the venting requirements (just leave the room for 15 minutes after you're done and let any paint particulates settle).

For me, I only use rattle can sprays on large terrain (like 2x2 boards, or custom 4x2's). In this case, I use the side of the house with large pieces of cardboard to catch overspray. I only spray outside in the spring and fall, on days when it's relatively dry and cool. Everything else is airbrush.

Because I don't want to run primer through my airbrush.

Also, because I've discovered that several shades of Army Painter color primer sprays are perfect for certain armies I'm working on.

Living in an apartment, I don't have the luxury of being able to prime my models outside.

I build a DIY spray booth, like one I saw on youtube. Using a large clear plastic container, a bathroom exhaust fan, a fiberglass furnace filter, and a dryer vent hose. The total cost was about $40.

Its quick to set up and break down, I set it up on my bathroom counter, and it vents out the shower window. The only issue I have with it, is that it stains the window screen, where the over spray vents out.

I'm in a flat, airbrush with Vallejo model air black and white does the job well. My painting room has French doors that open onto the rear car park, so if I need to use a can I just discreetly lean over the railing.

I live in an apartment with a balcony, so I just step out there to spray prime them. Of course, overspray is a concern, so I use a box from a flatscreen TV to keep the paint off the wood. Works pretty good, too, I just have to do it when the neighbors' little kid isn't outside (our balconies adjoin), wouldn't want to expose a child to paint fumes.

In my small hobby room with no window, with the door closed and usually I do a ton of them at once.

Just outside my apartment, because there are large open windows to ventilate. Management once issued a warning because someone heard the rattle can and thought I was doing graffiti .

In my open garage, in front of a big fan. I have an adhoc painting surface I put up on my table saw.

shade1313 wrote:
For a long while, it was very challenging for much of the year. Las Vegas, you see, is very hot, and often very windy. I discovered that I could spray in ambient temperatures into the 90s, BUT...not during the day. The addition of direct desert sun to the heat made for paint that dried before it hit the model, and a grainy appearance. So, after dark in the back yard was the way for a while...IF it wasn't windy. That got real frustrating sometimes.

Then, I came up with this:

Spoiler:

So...what IS this thing in my garage?

Inside, it's this:



Made from some of these:



And some PVC drop cloths, resulting in an enclosed area so I don't get spray all over, don't have direct sunlight, etc. Like so:



Now, it's not ideal. My spray booth is in there, but I'm going to be making a second segment next to this one when I can get more clear space in the garage, largely because you get a LOT of dust in the color of whatever you're spraying all over the place. I dust it every time, but I'd still rather keep that much pigment dust away from my airbrushes and booth. And, of course, I use a respirator and safety glasses.

Micromark DO have some neat gear designed for airbrushing in an apartment - but my modelling area isn't close to a window (their mini booth vents through a window via the "hose" supplied.

For anyone who needs to prime and doesn't have a suitable environment (and doesn't own an airbrush), I highly recommend black acrylic gesso.

It's a wonderful surface prep product even for people who do have alternatives.

Right here!